


Harumonogatari

by a_pathetic0524



Category: EXILE (Japan Band), Exile Tribe, J Soul Brothers (Band), Sandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Broken english, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 00:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19161706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_pathetic0524/pseuds/a_pathetic0524
Summary: Ine Fishing Village keeps too many stories for Iwata Takanori and Yamashita Kenjiro. Like the gust of sea and spring winds that keep coming back, they know that their love stories will never be worn out in time.





	Harumonogatari

INE FISHING VILLAGE always reminded Iwata Takanori of his love story with Yamashita Kenjiro.  Hidden and quiet. Just like their relationship.  Every time he read about Ine no  Funaya on the sites and tourist brochures, smile never failed to appear on his face. Like Ine, Yamashita Kenjiro would always able to make him happy.

Takanori opened the door of their rented van that brought them from Amanohashidate to Ine Village. Nostalgic memory without hesitation and fear immediately approached him together with a gust of spring breeze and the smell of the sea and the fish caught a few days ago which were being dried by residents in Ine Village under the morning sun. Though from where their car was parked, he was unable to find rows of fish and squid that were being dried in the parking lots next to Ine residents' boat houses.

What he could see was only a vast and borderless stretch of the Sea of Japan, a common yard belonging to a row of boat houses scattered along the Tango Peninsula.  Green emerald matching with the hills that towered around Ine collided with the sapphire-colored sky. As if didn't want to lose, the flower fields of Ine's Funaya Park waving in the wind, trying to hypnotize them with the beauty of their majestic reds, purples and yellows. And instead of destroying each other, the beautiful view in front of him complemented and perfected each other like a graceful painting. If he were allowed to compare, like Kenjiro-san and himself no matter how different their nature and mindset were.

Feeling satisfied enjoying the view, Takanori turned around and smiled at the man he loved. He stretched out his right hand, holding fingers which were still as sturdy as fingers that helped him to back standing up in his worst time.

"Where are we?" Kenjiro-san asked, turning left and right. Confusion was evident in his dark yet clear as the sea colored eyes.

Softly Takanori rubbed the back of the hand in his grasp. "Ine," he tilted his head asking for Kenjiro's attention, "Ken-san remembers Ine, right? The fishing village?"

Kenjiro-san blinked, "Ine?"

Takanori nodded.

"I like Ine Village." Thin lips curved into wide smile, displaying rows of bright teeth especially the jagged incisors he hoped wouldn't fall soon as some of other Kenjiro-san's teeth that had been replaced by dentures.

"That's why we're here now."  Grabbing the collar of his beloved's checkered shirt, Takanori put on the buttons and then tidied the gray knit sweater matching the one he was wearing. It was a little funny when back then they were hardly used dressing in pairs, but these days things were different. Times had passed and the era had changed. Their relationship had become much bolder, tougher and braver just like how Ine no Funaya, the fishing village of Ine had no fear against the changing times although hundreds of years had passed.

Ken-san stared at him questioningly, "Where are we?"

"Ine fishing village." Takanori gently patted his man's broad shoulders after making sure the gray sweater framed it perfectly.

Bringing himself down the van, Takanori slid open the side door wider. The steps approaching them after the front door closed, made him shifted his gaze towards a tall and broad-shouldered man. The more he stared at the man, the more he noticed the likeness between Kenjiro-san and the man. Especially the smooth nose and the wide round-shaped eyes. Following the man were a woman in her thirties and a seven-year-old black haired boy clad in red t-shirt. Together the three of them strode towards the back door.

"Gun."

Takanori returned his attention to Kenjiro who was gazing up towards the sky and down towards the sea from the hill they stood at.

"Is it spring already now? Mackerel season already?" Enthusiasm made the two dark eyes glistened like a child watching his favorite cartoon. He knew Ken-san must felt impatient to do his hoby that these days was difficult to do.

Takanori stepped aside a little, giving an opportunity for the man who introduced hom to Ine Fishing Village to enjoy a moment of the miracle bestowed on him the first time he set foot in Ine. On that day, once again, he was able to feel something other than despair.

April 2018, shortly after his 29th birthday, Ken-san invited him to Ine Fishing Village. He said, so he could calm himself down and forget for a moment about the excruciating pain in his left leg after he fell off the stage in February during their group, SANDAIME J SOUL BROTHERS From EXILE TRIBE's rehearsal for their upcoming dome tour, UNKNOWN METROPOLIZ in Fukuoka.

Amazed by Ine's beauty, he ended up in tears. The salty aroma from the sea filled his taste. In the arms of Yamashita Kenjiro he felt the warmth that finally melt the ice wall he had built after the doctor said he might not be able to dance anymore. Spring came to him, after he thought he would be trapped in an eternal winter.

Ken-san gave him a new hope, like the spring for fishermen to go back to sea.

Because of that, Ine not only reminded him of their relationship, but also the man he loved, Yamashita Kenjiro. Of course, it was not just about Ken-san's fishing hobby or how the the man's fans always identify him with the fish signs and drawings that would greet them here and there in every corners of Ine.

"What if I say that you can't go fishing this time?" Takanori grinned, staring at the man who had captivated his heart like Ine. 

Ken-san frowned, "Oi, Gunchan ..."

"I'm afraid you will ignore me because you are too busy dating the fishes, Kenjiro-san." Chuckling, Takanori turned to face the man who approached them and then helped him prepared the wheelchair. He waved his hand at the couple who immediately understood what he meant. The wife led their son towards the park, while the husband informed that he'd soon follow after reporting to the village's information center about their reservation.

"Did I ever ignore you?" Kenjiro-san raised his eyebrows.

"I don't think so?" Takanori pushed the wheelchair and positioned it so that Ken-san could sit on it easily. His hands hugged Ken-san's arm and slowly he carried the man to sit in the wheelchair. If in the past Ken-san helped him with the stairs, then now it was his turn.

"I certainly won't ignore you, right?" Ken-san looked up at him expectantly.

Staring down, Takanori smiled while tightened his grips on the wheelchair. "All right, you can fish as much as you wanted to today, Kenjiro-san."

"I'll catch as much mackerel for you, Gun." Ken-san punched the sky with his two fists. That smile Ken-san's had, never failed to make his heart beat faster. Although, if he should be honest, he never knew when his heart started beating like this whenever he saw Kenjiro's smile, whenever he was so close with him. But one thing for sure, was that, he loved it. So much until it hurt.

For a moment, they both drowned themselves in the song sung by the seagulls and the seawaves from the distance. Takanori pushed the wheelchair down the hill through a special lane beside the flower garden. Azaleas and iris irrevocably danced following the gust of wind, seducing them.

"Gun."

"Hmm?" Takanori stared down, with his right fingers he caressed the black strands ruffled by the wind. Too bad, he left Ken-san's hat back in the car. 

"We're in Ine, right? I know this park." Ken-san turned towards the park. "Because we always come here every spring."

It was true.

Ken-san would always bring him to come to Ine every time spring comes since that day. Even after he won fighting against the fate the doctor set for him. After he was once again able to dance. The reason? Because his birthday was at the beginning of spring and Ken-san's in the late of spring. The season where Ine's fishermen would start busy racing their boats, disturbing the fish's peace just as Ken-san disturbed his calmness when in front of the flower beds Ken-san confessed that he loved him.

"Yes," Takanori paused and closed his eyes, "we are in Ine Village."

"Remember that I asked you to be my lover in this park?"

"Yes."

With the Sea of Japan as the backgrond, that day Ken-san grasped his hands, putting on a nervous expression and grimaced repeatedly, when he confessed about his feeling towards him. A feeling different from what Ken-san gave to other members at SANDAIME J SOUL BROTHERS whether it was ELLY-san or Omi-san. A feeling that a man should give to a woman. But Ken-san knew and understood that it was a feeling that wasn't as normal as butterflies dancing around the flowers.

"Isn't Ine no Funaya also abnormal?" he said to Kenjiro-san that day.

When modern skyscrapers eroded ancient houses, boat houses in Ine Fishing Village persist. When large companies brought their big ships to reap fish from the ocean, the remaining of Ine fishermen spur their simple-engine boats for the fish.

Abnormal. That how Ine was.

Like a puzzle piece that didn't fit in the modernized world. Like both of them, two men who fell in love and chose to be together in a world dominated by man and woman couples.

Ine lived its own life without the intervention of others. They should be the same. Because their lives were their own.

Opening his eyes, Takanori smiled, gazing at the gold wedding ring circled his left ring finger. He continued pushing his husband's wheelchair until they reached the edge of the peninsula. Staring ahead, he didn't know where the sea and sky began and ended. He also didn't know where fate would bring his husband and him in the future.

"Kenjiro-san, do you remember when you proposed to me?"

Even then, weren't they like that too? The relationship they hid, where they would take it, they also didn't know. Year after year passed peacefully in silence. As time went on, however, like Ine's whereabouts, their relationship eventually became known to many. Even so, nothing had changed from Ine or their relationship. He still loved Ken-san. Ken-san still loved him. Their relationship was still as strong as boat houses on the outskirts of the Tango Peninsula despite the being hit repeatedly by the rough seawaves. Although many times doubts and fears hit them.

"That, here, isn't it?"

At one end point on the Tango Peninsula. The best place to gaze at sunrise and sunset. Flanked between two-story boat houses. And if they turn around, they could easily find the Funaya Park in the distance. It should be, as easy as they play back their memories.

"Right." Takanori stared own, hugging his husband's shoulders tighty. "I'm glad you still remember it."

"Do you think I'll forget it? I even remember how happy I was that I fell into the sea after you said 'yes'." Ken-san grimaced while rubbing the back of his hands.

How many years have passed since Japanese residents won demands for equal rights to marry regardless of sex? Since Hiro-san said that sexual orientation was not an obstacle to creativity and work? Since Ken-san and him finally got married? And their son, Ryo said that his wife, Miya had given birth to their grandson, Haruhi.

Because he could feel so much protruding wrinkles on Ken-san's hands. Likewise with their faces. Their hair had also turned white. Even dancing, wasn't as easy anymore to do as before when SANDAIME was active and two and three preceded their age.

"I will be angry if you forget, Ken-san." Chuckling weakly, Takanori buried his face in the crook of his husband's neck, inhaling the scent which was always able to calm him in times like now. When again, doubts and fears came to haunt him.

He was scared.

Afraid that in the end the disease would take away the memories of them from husband. Afraid that Kenjiro-san ended up not recognizing him. And in the last days of their lives, Yamashita Kenjiro no longer knew who Iwata Takanori was.

"Believe me, I'll never forget about it. About you. About us. Nor about our family."

But it was just ... just like before. Just like Ine Fishing Village. Even though the times changed and the waves came crashing repeatedly, he would never flinch or give up. If Ken-san ended up forgetting, then like today, he would bring Ken-san to enjoy the wonders and beauty of Ine once more. Then, he would re-tell their stories without stopping nor feeling tired.

How it started from Ine Funaya Park to the tip of the Tango Peninsula. How it began with Ken-san hugged him as a friend, until Ken-san kissed his lips as a husband. From when they brought Ryo for the first time to Ine until this moment, even later when Haruhi grew up. He would always tell the memories of them over and over and over again.

 "I believe you, Kenjiro-san."

That way, the story of their spring in Ine Fishing Village would remain eternal.

 

#

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for a fanfiction contest on wattpad in Bahasa Indonesia.
> 
> Originally posted here: https://my.w.tt/m3LGRMTWoX
> 
> Find me on wattpad: a_pathetic0524
> 
> And instagram: zen.ldh.oor / a_pathetic0524
> 
> I wrote fanfictions for toruka (oor), omiryu & ganjiro (3jsb) and occasionally hokuriku (rampe) and makiharu (ossan's love) in bahasa Indonesia.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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